Utility Bill OCR

About this API

The Utility Bill OCR API is a service designed to extract structured data from utility bills, such as those for electricity, water, gas, or internet services. It uses Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to process documents and then identifies and extracts key information specific to utility statements. The primary function of the API is to convert unstructured bill documents, like PDFs or images, into a structured JSON format. This output is intended for use in applications requiring address verification, expense management, or automated data entry.

Key Features

• Key Field Extraction: Identifies and extracts essential data points including utility_company, account_number, bill_date, due_date, customer_name, and service_address.
• Usage and Billing Details: Captures information specific to utility statements, such as the billing_period, total_usage (e.g., kWh), and the total_amount_due.
• Full Text Transcription: Provides the complete, raw text content extracted from the document, allowing for full-text search or manual review.
• Broad Document Support: Processes utility bills from common file formats, including PDF, JPG, and PNG.
• Structured JSON Output: Delivers all extracted information in a clean JSON format, where each piece of data is labeled with a type for straightforward integration and parsing by other software.

Use Cases

Scenario 1: Automate Proof of Address Verification

• Situation: An online financial service needs to verify a new customer's residential address as part of its Know Your Customer (KYC) compliance process.
• Implementation: The user uploads a photo of a recent utility bill via the service's application. The application's backend sends this image file to the Utility Bill OCR API. The API returns the customer_name and service_address as structured data. The system then programmatically compares this information to the details provided by the customer during registration to validate their address.

Scenario 2: Streamline Property Management Accounting

• Situation: A property management firm oversees numerous rental units and needs to efficiently track utility costs for each property to bill tenants accurately.
• Implementation: The firm's administrative system receives digital copies of utility bills for all properties. Each bill is sent to the API, which extracts the service_address, billing_period, and total_amount_due. This data is then automatically logged in the company's database against the corresponding property, creating a clear record for accounting and tenant billing.

Scenario 3: Enhance a Personal Finance Application

• Situation: A personal finance app wants to offer a feature that automatically tracks and categorizes users' monthly utility expenses.
• Implementation: The user uploads a PDF or a photo of their utility bill into the app. The app sends the file to the API. The API processes the bill and returns the utility_company name, bill_date, and total_amount_due. The app then uses this data to automatically create a new transaction, correctly categorizing it under "Utilities" without requiring manual input from the user.

How it Works: Endpoints & Response

The API functions by receiving a document file at a specific endpoint and returning a detailed JSON object with the extracted information.